I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1638
To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mrs. W
ATSONCOLEMAN(for herself, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, Ms. MCCLEL-
LAN, Mr. SMITHof Washington, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mrs. RAMI-
REZ, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BROWN, Mr.
C
OHEN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GREENof Texas,
Ms. J
ACOBS, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. KENNEDYof New York, Mr.
F
IELDS, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. WILSONof Florida, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE,
Mrs. C
HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. MCGARVEY,
Mrs. M
CIVER, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. POCAN, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Ms.
S
HERRILL, Mrs. SYKES, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. STRICKLAND,
Mr. M
EEKS, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CARSON, Mr. ESPAILLAT,
Ms. C
LARKEof New York, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mr. QUIGLEY,
Mr. H
ORSFORD, Mr. TURNERof Texas, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. STEVENS,
Mr. T
ONKO, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mr. DAVISof Illi-
nois, Mr. V
ARGAS, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. DAVISof North
Carolina, Mr. A
MO, Mr. IVEY, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Ms. PLASKETT,
Mrs. H
AYES, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana,
Ms. B
YNUM, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. BELL, Ms.
W
ATERS, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. MFUME, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. PRESSLEY,
Ms. M
OOREof Wisconsin, Ms. OMAR, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, Mr.
F
ROST, and Mr. JEFFRIES) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s texture
or style of hair.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating a Respectful 4
and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2025’’ or the 5
‘‘CROWN Act of 2025’’. 6
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS; PURPOSE. 7
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 8
(1) Throughout United States history, society 9
has used (in conjunction with skin color) hair tex-10
ture and hairstyle to classify individuals on the basis 11
of race. 12
(2) Like one’s skin color, one’s hair has served 13
as a basis of race and national origin discrimination. 14
(3) Racial and national origin discrimination 15
can and do occur because of longstanding racial and 16
national origin biases and stereotypes associated 17
with hair texture and style. 18
(4) For example, people of African descent have 19
been deprived of educational and employment oppor-20
tunities because they are adorned with natural or 21
protective hairstyles in which hair is tightly coiled or 22
tightly curled, or worn in locs, cornrows, twists, 23
braids, Bantu knots, or Afros. 24
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(5) Racial and national origin discrimination is 1
reflected in school and workplace policies and prac-2
tices that bar natural or protective hairstyles com-3
monly worn by people of African descent. 4
(6) For example, as recently as 2018, the 5
United States Armed Forces had grooming policies 6
that barred natural or protective hairstyles that 7
servicewomen of African descent commonly wear and 8
that described these hairstyles as ‘‘unkempt’’. 9
(7) In 2018, the United States Armed Forces 10
rescinded these policies and recognized that this de-11
scription perpetuated derogatory racial stereotypes. 12
(8) The United States Armed Forces also rec-13
ognized that prohibitions against natural or protec-14
tive hairstyles that African-American servicewomen 15
are commonly adorned with are racially discrimina-16
tory and bear no relationship to African-American 17
servicewomen’s occupational qualifications and their 18
ability to serve and protect the Nation. 19
(9) Some Federal courts have narrowly inter-20
preted the protections against discrimination on the 21
basis of race or national origin found in existing 22
Federal civil rights laws, including provisions of the 23
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), 24
section 1977 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 25
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•HR 1638 IH
1981), and the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 1
et seq.), thereby permitting, for example, employers 2
to discriminate against people of African descent 3
who wear natural or protective hairstyles, even 4
though the employment policies involved are not re-5
lated to workers’ ability to perform their jobs. 6
(10) Applying these narrow interpretations has 7
resulted in a lack of Federal civil rights protection 8
for individuals who are discriminated against on the 9
basis of characteristics that are commonly associated 10
with race and national origin. 11
(11) Starting in 2019, State legislatures and 12
municipal bodies throughout the United States have 13
introduced and passed legislation that rejects certain 14
Federal courts’ restrictive interpretation of race and 15
national origin, and expressly classifies race and na-16
tional origin discrimination as inclusive of discrimi-17
nation on the basis of natural or protective hair-18
styles commonly associated with race and national 19
origin. 20
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-21
gress that— 22
(1) the Federal Government should acknowl-23
edge that individuals who have hair texture or wear 24
a hairstyle that is historically and contemporarily as-25
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sociated with African Americans or persons of Afri-1
can descent have suffered harmful discrimination in 2
schools, workplaces, and other contexts based upon 3
longstanding race and national origin stereotypes 4
and biases; 5
(2) a clear and comprehensive law should ad-6
dress the deprivation of educational, employment, 7
and other opportunities on the basis of hair texture 8
and hairstyle that are commonly associated with 9
race or national origin; 10
(3) clear, consistent, and enforceable legal 11
standards must be provided to redress the wide-12
spread incidences of race and national origin dis-13
crimination based upon hair texture and hairstyle in 14
schools, workplaces, housing, federally funded insti-15
tutions, and other contexts; 16
(4) it is necessary to prevent educational, em-17
ployment, and other decisions, practices, and policies 18
generated by or reflecting negative biases and 19
stereotypes related to race or national origin; 20
(5) the Federal Government must play a key 21
role in enforcing Federal civil rights laws in a way 22
that secures equal educational, employment, and 23
other opportunities for all individuals regardless of 24
their race or national origin; 25
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•HR 1638 IH
(6) the Federal Government must play a central 1
role in enforcing the standards established under 2
this Act on behalf of individuals who suffer race or 3
national origin discrimination based upon hair tex-4
ture and hairstyle; 5
(7) it is necessary to prohibit and provide rem-6
edies for the harms suffered as a result of race or 7
national origin discrimination on the basis of hair 8
texture and hairstyle; and 9
(8) it is necessary to mandate that school, 10
workplace, and other applicable standards be applied 11
in a nondiscriminatory manner and to explicitly pro-12
hibit the adoption or implementation of grooming re-13
quirements that disproportionately impact people of 14
African descent. 15
(c) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to institute 16
definitions of race and national origin for Federal civil 17
rights laws that effectuate the comprehensive scope of pro-18
tection Congress intended to be afforded by such laws and 19
Congress’ objective to eliminate race and national origin 20
discrimination in the United States. 21
SEC. 3. FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No individual in the United 23
States shall be excluded from participation in, be denied 24
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, 25
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•HR 1638 IH
any program or activity receiving Federal financial assist-1
ance, based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, 2
if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associ-3
ated with a particular race or national origin (including 4
a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, 5
locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 6
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-7
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-8
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 9
incorporated in title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 10
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), and as if a violation of sub-11
section (a) was treated as if it was a violation of section 12
601 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d). 13
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 14
(1) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ has the 15
meaning given the term in section 606 of the Civil 16
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d–4a); and 17
(2) the terms ‘‘race’’ and ‘‘national origin’’ 18
mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the meaning of the 19
term in section 601 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d) 20
and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the 21
term in that section 601. 22
SEC. 4. HOUSING PROGRAMS. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No person in the United States 24
shall be subjected to a discriminatory housing practice 25
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•HR 1638 IH
based on the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair 1
texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a 2
particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in 3
which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, corn-4
rows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 5
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-6
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-7
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 8
incorporated in the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 9
et seq.), and as if a violation of subsection (a) was treated 10
as if it was a discriminatory housing practice. 11
(c) D
EFINITION.—In this section— 12
(1) the terms ‘‘discriminatory housing practice’’ 13
and ‘‘person’’ have the meanings given the terms in 14
section 802 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 15
3602); and 16
(2) the terms ‘‘race’’ and ‘‘national origin’’ 17
mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the meaning of the 18
term in section 804 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 3604) 19
and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the 20
term in that section 804. 21
SEC. 5. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No person in the United States 23
shall be subjected to a practice prohibited under section 24
201, 202, or 203 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 25
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•HR 1638 IH
U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), based on the person’s hair texture 1
or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is com-2
monly associated with a particular race or national origin 3
(including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or 4
tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, 5
and Afros). 6
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-7
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-8
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 9
incorporated in title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 10
and as if a violation of subsection (a) was treated as if 11
it was a violation of section 201, 202, or 203, as appro-12
priate, of such Act. 13
(c) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the terms ‘‘race’’ 14
and ‘‘national origin’’ mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within 15
the meaning of the term in section 201 of that Act (42 16
U.S.C. 2000a) and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning 17
of the term in that section 201. 18
SEC. 6. EMPLOYMENT. 19
(a) P
ROHIBITION.—It shall be an unlawful employ-20
ment practice for an employer, employment agency, labor 21
organization, or joint labor-management committee con-22
trolling apprenticeship or other training or retraining (in-23
cluding on-the-job training programs) to fail or refuse to 24
hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to dis-25
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criminate against an individual, based on the individual’s 1
hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hair-2
style is commonly associated with a particular race or na-3
tional origin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly 4
coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, 5
Bantu knots, and Afros). 6
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-7
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-8
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 9
incorporated in title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 10
(42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), and as if a violation of sub-11
section (a) was treated as if it was a violation of section 12
703 or 704, as appropriate, of such Act (42 U.S.C. 13
2000e–2, 2000e–3). 14
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section the terms ‘‘per-15
son’’, ‘‘race’’, and ‘‘national origin’’ have the meanings 16
given the terms in section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 17
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e). 18
SEC. 7. EQUAL RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No person in the United States 20
shall be subjected to a practice prohibited under section 21
1977 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), based on 22
the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture 23
or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular 24
race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair 25
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is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, 1
braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 2
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-3
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-4
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 5
incorporated in section 1977 of the Revised Statutes, and 6
as if a violation of subsection (a) was treated as if it was 7
a violation of that section 1977. 8
SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 9
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit defini-10
tions of race or national origin under the Civil Rights Act 11
of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), the Fair Housing Act 12
(42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), or section 1977 of the Revised 13
Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981). 14
Æ
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